Local restaurant investment company swipes the CUESA mailing list to solicit restaurant investors

Earlier this week, local farmers’ market supporters may have been surprised (or at least confused) when an email from one Wendy Lin appeared in their inboxes, asking for restaurant and food investment opportunities while invoking the name of CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture).

As it turns out, Ms. Lin not only used the beloved and upstanding CUESA name, but also the CUESA mailing list — without CUESA’s knowledge or permission. Wendy Lin was soliciting potential investors for MainStreet, a food-centric Kickstarter-like company that describes itself as a “social crowdfunding platform that connects investors who care about their communities with passionate entrepreneurs itching to make their business a reality.”

This is Lin’s original email to the CUESA mailing list:

We heard about your involvement with CUESA and are writing to see if you had any interest in investing in sustainable food in the Bay Area. We’re building MainStreet, a funding platform for local businesses. We connect investors to their communities by helping them invest in real places and build direct relationships with the entrepreneurs shaping those communities and food systems. We’re currently primarily working with restaurants and bars in the Bay; some of our projects include…

It went on cite a half dozen local restaurants that MainStreet is allegedly working with.

How did Lin get the mailing list? Turns out she was a volunteer at CUESA, one of many volunteers that the nonprofit group relies on for its education and fundraising initiatives and the operation of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Suffice to say that when CUESA found out Lin obtained the mailing list, she was dismissed.

“After we discovered what had happened, apology emails were issued from Wendy and from CUESA. So far the feedback from those who were contacted has been positive and understanding in nature,” said CUESA executive director Dave Stockdale in a statement to Scoop. “They were happy to have the explanation of what had taken place and now we are getting back to our work cultivating a healthy food system through our educational programs and the operation of the triweekly Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.”

This is the response email sent out, which includes further action undertaken by CUESA:

Dear CUESA supporter,

It came to our attention that yesterday you were sent an email from Ms. Wendy Lin of MainStreet, soliciting business investments for San Francisco restaurants, and citing your relationship with CUESA. I’m writing to apologize for this and to let you know that it was done without our knowledge or permission, and in no way was authorized by CUESA.

We were alerted to the email by a fellow donor who was concerned that CUESA might be selling her email address. I want to assure you that CUESA does not sell, rent, loan or in any fashion share the information of our contributors. In this regrettable case, Ms. Wendy Lin obtained your email address when volunteering on a data entry project for CUESA.

CUESA’s volunteer policies expressly prohibit the use of information for personal purposes, and all volunteers sign an agreement acknowledging their understanding of our policies. We take this breach of your trust very seriously. Ms. Lin has been asked to retract her email, and she has been fired from our volunteer program. Additionally, we are changing our data entry volunteer assignments to include a non-disclosure agreement.

We are deeply apologetic for this circumstance. Your support of CUESA’s programs and initiatives is critical to the success of a more sustainable food system, and we take your faith in our organization and the privacy of your information very seriously.

If you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Christine

Christine Farren

Director of Development

When reached for comment, Lin responded with this statement: “We are in agreement to put this behind us and move forward.”

Since being contacted by Scoop, MainStreet has put its website behind a password, but its Tumblr is still accessible, and includes a bit about what the company does with investors and restaurants: “[W]e will connect the two most important parties in these feats early, directly, and with the transparency both sides deserve.”

I wonder if that transparency extends to telling investors and restaurants about swiping personal information.